In 1847, James J. Strang, a leader in the Latter-day Saint movement, established a colony on Beaver Island.
Strang crowned himself king of his church in 1850, and he was also elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 1853 and again in 1855.
Due in large part to fear of and animosity towards Strang's religious sect and concerns over the political strength his following gave him, petitions were presented to the legislature to detach Beaver and the Fox Islands from Emmet and form them into a separate county.
"King Strang" was assassinated in 1856, and in what historian Byron M. Cutcheon would call the "most disgraceful day in Michigan history", Strang's nearly 2,600 Latter Day Saint subjects were driven forcibly from Beaver Island by non-Mormons.
The first attempt to disestablish Manitou County occurred in January 1877, when retiring governor John J. Bagley urged the Legislature to do so: “I submit herewith petitions and correspondence relative to the affairs in the county of Manitou.